Software product licensing based on a content space

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method for generating software license types, includes collecting, by a processor, a plurality of software product functions, creating, by the processor, a plurality of content space specification files that includes the plurality of software product functions, processing, by the processor, the plurality of content space specification files to generate a plurality of software license types and outputting, by the processor, the plurality of software license types.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to software licenses, and morespecifically, to assigning software license levels implementing acontent space.

Software products are often licensed in multiple ways for differentmarkets and customer sets and ship with different license levels.“Higher” license levels correspond to increased function with increasedcost to the customer. Three or four levels for a product are notuncommon. For example, some basic level of function may be included witha platform or device or down-loadable from the Internet. For anadditional fee the next level of license may be purchased with give thecustomer more value-add. A typical license structure often relates tothe size of the system or platform of number of users that will benefit,with larger systems or larger numbers of users having license fees thatare higher. Another license structure relates to functions—somefunctions are available with a basic license at no additional charge,and stepped levels of function can be licensed for additional fees.

Over successive releases, the cost of maintaining the correct boundariesbetween license levels and product function tend to grow. There arevarious reasons for this such as product functional evolution, changesin license level definitions, defect fixes, and competitive pressures.

SUMMARY

Additional exemplary embodiments include a system for generatingsoftware license types, the system including a processor configured forcollecting a plurality of software product functions, creating aplurality of content space specification files that includes theplurality of software product functions, processing the plurality ofcontent space specification files to generate a plurality of softwarelicense types and outputting the plurality of software license types.

Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniquesof the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the inventionare described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimedinvention. For a better understanding of the invention with theadvantages and the features, refer to the description and to thedrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularlypointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion ofthe specification. The forgoing and other features, and advantages ofthe invention are apparent from the following detailed description takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a high level block diagram of a system for generatingagile user stories, which then define the software licensinglevels/types;

FIG. 2 illustrates a chart representation of the five exemplarydimensions described herein;

FIG. 3 illustrates the system for defining software licensinglevels/types based on a content space in software of FIG. 1, furtherillustrating the content space tool process flow that defines thesoftware licensing levels/types;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example chart illustrating a mapping of contentspace values to license levels; and

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a system in which softwareproduct licensing based on a content space can be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In exemplary embodiments, the systems and methods described hereinimplement a content space to define license levels and boundaries, andutilize boundary definitions. The systems and methods described here infurther align license boundaries with content space elements such asnoun spaces, interfaces or in verbs (or verb sets). In exemplaryembodiments, the license boundaries are aligned with the product contentspace boundaries at the noun level, such that all of function associatedwith any given noun (noun space) is in a single license category.However, if the boundary between license levels needs to distinguishverbs for a given noun, or platform, and the like, alignment with othercontent space elements is supported. Over time, the needs of thebusiness might necessitate realignment or refactoring of licensecategories that do not align with noun spaces. In such cases thelicensing can be aligned with function (‘verb’) boundaries, even if thecontent space must be adjusted. As such, it will be appreciated that thecontent space definition enables this type of flexibility. Conformanceat run-time to the aligned boundaries can be readily locally checked inthe code. The systems and methods described herein therefore lower thedefect rate, decrease development and test cost of supporting licensecategories, and improve the run-time implementation of license checkingby centralizing and standardizing the implementation approach, therebygreatly reducing the development and test costs, and at the same timeincreasing the reliability of product run-time adherence to any currentlicense level.

In exemplary embodiments, the systems and methods described hereinassociate a given license level with each content space user story,including default as needed. The systems and methods described hereinalso embed the content space with license levels in the product forrun-time use. Furthermore, the systems and methods described hereinperform license checking at run-time using the embedded content space.

As described herein, a content space model is implemented for softwarelicensing. A content space is a way of representing software contentfrom an outside-in perspective via a set of dimensions. Each of thecontent space dimensions has values defined in terms of the softwareitself that concern a particular aspect, such as informationabstraction, function, external interface and run-time environment. Thedimension values can represent existing content and also new content forthe software, based on requirements (via content space analysis) for anew release. The content space can be programmatically traversed, and asthis traversal occurs, end-to-end testable units (termed user stories)are output, each corresponding to a particular region of the contentspace and having content space coordinates. The set of all output userstories partitions the software content and the set of all new andchanged user stories partitions the release requirements. The set of alluser stories and various subsets (e.g., all Power user stories) are usedto compute the content coverage metric of various scopes.

An example of how a content space can be set up and implemented is nowdiscussed. It will be appreciated that the following example isillustrative of a content space and not limiting.

In exemplary embodiments, the content space can be a five-dimensionalspace (termed either as a ‘software product content space’ or a ‘contentspace’), such that each cell within the content space is an end-to-enduse case (i.e., agile user story). In exemplary embodiments, the systemsand methods described herein can be implemented at various levels ofscale, from individual software components to very large productscomprising hundreds of components to define the software licensinglevels. The five dimensions structure the work as needed by softwaredevelopment (i.e., design, test, project management), and therequirements serve to define the values used on the dimensions. As such,the exemplary content space servers to bridge the requirements domainand implementation domain.

FIG. 1 illustrates a high level block diagram of a system 100 forgenerating agile user stories, which then define the software licensinglevels/types. The system 100 outlines and overviews the exemplarymethods, the blocks for which are described further herein. It will beappreciated that each of the summary details described herein includesmultiple users from each of the two domains, with multiple reviews. Theorder in which the individual steps are executed is not necessarilyserial. Changes in requirements or additional insights happen during alater step can necessitate reworking the results from an earlier step.

In exemplary embodiments, content space specification files 105 aregenerated from the various sources in the requirements domain asdescribed herein. As described further herein, the content spacespecification files are generated from various requirements 101. Acontent space tool 110 receives the content specification files 105 toautomatically generate the agile user stories that can be stored in auser story storage medium 115. An additional storage medium 120 can beimplemented to store changes to the specification files 105, or anyother suitable output during the content space generation. Oncegenerated, the agile user stories can be output to any suitable projectmanagement or test management tool 125 implemented by the users in thedevelopment domain.

The system 100 includes several functions, including, but not limitedto: 1) articulating the content space; 2) classifying regions of thecontent space; 3) grouping the regions of the content space; 4)assigning priorities to use cases; and 5) loading the project managementtool 125.

In articulating the content space, requirements are analyzed in terms ofthe five content space dimensions. This analysis results in (withiteration and consensus building) a definition of values for each of thefive dimensions, which is represented in a form that can beprogrammatically processed. In articulating the content space, thesystems and methods described herein address whether all therequirements are represented in the content space, whether each contentspace dimension value is properly defined and agreed upon, and whetherall the dimension values are related to explicit, implicit or futurerequirements.

In classifying the regions of the content space, once the team issatisfied that the content space is defined (i.e., all dimension valuesknown, understood, and reasonably well-defined) and that it doesencompass all the requirements for a selected time-frame, the team nextdecides on how to classify regions of the content space. Throughautomated systems with team decisions, every cell in the content spaceis categorized in a variety of types, including, but not limited to: 1)does not apply to the product; 2) does apply to the product but for somefuture release; 3) is part of the product today (or from some priorrelease) and has no enhancements or changes; 4) is part of the producttoday and is enhanced or changed in some way; and 5) is a new or anenhanced function. The systems and methods described herein determinewhether each content space dimension value is classified, and reviews ofthe results determine correctness.

Following agreement on the content space and categorization of regions,the content space regions are then grouped. Subsets of the content spaceare grouped together into a size which is desirable for projectmanagement and the scale of the product and teams. This step appliesparticularly to the content space regions classified as unchanged andnew or enhanced (changed). The two extremes are: an entire content spacecan grouped into a single output project management work item, or at theother extreme every single content space cell can be output as a singleproject management line item. Essentially every possible grouping inbetween these extremes is also supported. Grouping is implemented forall new & changed user stories for a particular platform or for specificsub-variations of a verb.

In exemplary embodiments, there is flexibility in how these regions areselected and how they related to the content space cell classifications.The systems and methods described herein determine whether the groupingis correct and do the groupings properly reflect the tradeoff betweenproject management needs and technical visibility based onclassifications and complexity.

The grouping of content space cells into right sized project managementwork items mostly focused on a new function and an existing andunchanged function. The user (team) can programmatically select thegrouping of content space cells based on many considerations suchoverall content space size, product size, degree of technical difficultyof new function, team size, number of team, and the like. In exemplaryembodiments, individual content cells are use cases (with adjustablegranularity) and the groupings are user functions or user stories.

Based on the relative priorities of requirements, regions of the contentspace (subsets of use cases) are assigned priority values. These can beused to help focus review sessions to ensure the right higher prioritycontent is defined. When loaded into a project management application,the priorities can be used directly by development in agile sprint(iteration) planning. The output project management work items are input(e.g., ‘import’) for example, from the user story storage medium 115,into an appropriate project management tool 125.

As described herein, a content space can be defined by five dimensions.In exemplary embodiments, the five dimensions of the content space are,in order: release (time); noun; verb; interface; and platform. The threedimensions, verb, interface and platform, are orthogonal andnoun-specific. That is, an instance of these (e.g., a verb set, aninterface set and a platform set) is defined for each noun of interest.Nouns are the fourth dimension. The combination of a noun and itsassociated 3D space is termed a ‘noun space’. A set of noun spaces at agiven point in time (usually associated with product release) constitutethe definition of the content space for a particular release of aproduct (when the point in time is chosen on a release calendarboundary). Instances a product content space for multiple releasesrepresent the fifth dimension of content space: time.

For illustrative purposes, an example of a software product, ahypothetical browser-based email client is discussed for ease ofdiscussion. It will be appreciated that other products are contemplatedfor which software licensing levels can be defined.

FIG. 2 illustrates a chart 200 representation of the five exemplarydimensions described herein. As described herein, the five dimensions ofthe content space are, from inner three to out-most: platform 201;interface 202; verb 203; noun 204; and release (time) 205. All of thevalues for the dimensions are derived from the product requirements,either explicit or implicit.

The platform dimension 201 is interpreted broadly to include thehardware, operating system, middle ware, hypervisor, and languageruntime in which the product executes. Generally, meaningful platformelements are determined by each product. As such, the entireprerequisite software stack and hardware is considered. Values of theplatform dimension 201 can include specific releases of each of theseplatform components as needed, or can be more generally specified. Forexample, a platform might be AIX 5.2 or just AIX. Alternatively, theplatform might be Firefox 3.6 or better, or just Firefox. Values caninclude as needed ancillary hardware for storage, networking, hardwaremanagement controllers, firmware, etc. for the full functional systemconfiguration.

The interface dimension 202 has values chosen to identify and separatethe kinds of interfaces that the subject software presents to externalentities; people, other software or hardware. The values can bespecified by type such as Graphical User Interface (GUI), command lineinterface (CLI), and so on. The values can include programmableinterfaces such as web services (e.g. REST) and APIs. Protocols can alsobe specified as values (e.g. IPv6 or MPI (Message Processing Interface)used in super-computing environments).

The verb dimension 203 includes values such as functions or operationsthat are supported by the subject software for a particular noun. Theoperations may be specified at varying levels of granularity, dependingupon the needs of a given set of requirements. For example ‘copy’ or‘create’ might be sufficient. More fine-grained values such ‘copy tolike repository’ and ‘copy to new folder’ can also be used. The decisiondepends on considerations like how new the function is, or how criticalthe different forms of copy are to the product stake-holders (those thatdefine requirements), or how technically difficult to implement.

The noun dimension 204 is an abstract entity presented to externals viathe interface(s). Most software for direct use by people has a number ofsuch abstractions that people manipulate via the functions (verbs)presented by the software. Example nouns for an email client caninclude, but are not limited to: inbox; inbox email; folder; and draftemail. As with values on the above dimensions, there is flexibility inhow coarse-grained or fine-grained the nouns are defined. The rightlevel of noun dimension granularity for a given product and givenrelease depends on the requirements.

The time dimension 205 values include natural values (i.e., discreteunits) which are the releases planned for the product. The content spacefor release n+1 can be various additions and changes relative to therelease n content space. These additions, enhancements and other changesaffect the release n content space by changing the values defined on thevarious dimensions. New nouns, new verbs, new platforms, can all beadded. Enhancements to exiting nouns and verbs are common are definedexplicitly in the n+1 content space.

Because of the way the dimensions are defined, each generated user storyis an end-to-end testable unit of function (sometimes termed ‘FVT-able’,where FVT=Function Verification Test). For example, for an “email”client each user story is a cell in the five-dimensional space withcoordinates of release, noun, verb, interface and platform. For example,“send an email on Firefox via GUI release n” is represented by a 5-tuple{release n, email, send, GUI, Firefox}, as shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 illustrates the system 100 for defining software licensinglevels/types based on a content space in software of FIG. 1, furtherillustrating the content space tool 110 process flow that defines thesoftware licensing levels. In exemplary embodiments, parameters arecollected from the content space specification files 105 at block 305.In addition, any input files and content space symbols and filters arealso read into the content space tool 110. As such, following invocationand initialization of the content space tool 110, the content spacespecification file(s) 105 are read. In addition, the content spacespecification files 105 are parsed for correctness and various checksare run to help ensure consistency across the possibly multiple files.This processing includes all the symbols and filters. At block 310, thecontent space is managed. In exemplary embodiments, grouping and foldingare techniques to manage content space size. The size of a content spaceis naturally expressed as the number of user stories it contains, orwill output if requested. For example, in software products, contentspace sizes in range of hundreds to over thirty million. Average sizescan be in the range of two thousand to twenty thousand. Both folding andgrouping can manage content space size without eliminating detail fromthe content space specification files 105.

In grouping user stories, a set of user stories is represented in outputas a single user story. For example all the user stories for platformABC or for function XYZ might be represented by a single output userstory. Grouping does not change the size of a content space. Groupingallows the number of output user stories to be directly managed withouteliminating any details from the CS specification. There is no limit onthe size of a user story group. In exemplary embodiments, grouping iscontrolled by the user by filters in the content space specificationfile 105.

As filtering occurs, when a filter matches a user story and the filterhas any kind of grouping requested, save the user story is saved in abuffer associated with the filter. After all filtering and allnon-grouped user stories are output. The content space tool 110 loopsthrough all the filters that have any kind of grouping. For each filter,the content space tool performs several steps. First, if a simple‘group’ is requested in the filter, the content space tool 110 generatesthe single grouping user story, summary field, description field, andthe like, and writes to output. The content space tool 110 thencontinues to the next filter. If a type of ‘group by’ is requested, thenfor each group by element (e.g., noun, verb, ifc, platform), the contentspace tool 110 builds subsets of the respective values on the dimensionfrom among the buffered user stories. The content space tool 110 thengenerates a single user story group for each cross-dimension subset,generates the description field that itemizes the subset of user storiesfor the group, and writes the user story group.

Folding also reduces the number of output user stories like grouping.But in contrast to grouping, folding reduces the size of the contentspace. Folding reduces the size of the content space by collecting somenumber of dimension element values into a single value. The resultingsingle value is then used as a dimension element value in place of themultiple collected values, thereby reducing the size of the contentspace. The single resulting value is termed a folding symbol (‘foldsym’).

As described herein, folding does not eliminate the details from thecontent space specification file. The values collected into a fold symremain in the content space specification file 105, and the folding doneby the fold sym can be toggled on or off. The value-folding can beswitched on and off for each of the noun, verb, interface and platformdimensions independently or all four dimensions together. Hence not onlyare the values still in the spec file, but the content space can also beprocessed again and user stories generated without folding or differentfolding, to see the detail. Folding can include both dimension foldingand value folding.

In exemplary embodiments, the content space tool 110 processes commandline parameters to determine what kinds of folding are requested. If nofold parameter, the content space tool 110 implements the defaultsetting for folding. As the content space specification files 105 areread, the content space tool 110 collects a list of all fold syms, andvalues for each. After all the noun spaces are read from input files,the content space tool 110 invokes a fold function. The content spacetool implements dimension folding first if requested. For each dimensionfor which folding is requested, the dimension is folded to ‘*’ in eachnoun space. If value folding is requested for any dimensions that havenot been folded, the following steps are implemented. If noun valuefolding, the content space tool 110 folds the noun values by removingnouns in value list of a fold sym and replace with single instance ofthe fold sym. For each (remaining) noun space, for each relevantdimension, the content space tool 110 check each dimension value to seeif it is in the value list of a fold sym. If the noun is in the valuelist of the fold sym, then the content space tool 110 removes the valueand adds the fold sym (once only) to the dimension list. If folding hasbeen set off, the content space tool 110 takes no action. The contentspace by default is loaded in this mode. If fold request for the ‘all’or similar, the interface and platform dimensions are folded (as above)and the verb dimension is value-folded for all noun spaces are folded,and the noun dimension is value-folded.

Referring still to FIG. 3, at block 315, each user story is enumeratedin the content space and run through filters to classify and possiblyadd data. At block 320, the user story groups are generated and at block325 the software licensing levels/types are mapped to associatedpermissions as further described herein. At block 330, show requests anda summary are generated. At block 335, the software licensinglevels/types and associated content space defining the levels/types areembedded in the associated software product.

In exemplary embodiments, a content space is specified in a form that isprocessed (read) by the content space tool 110 (e.g., an Agile userstory generation program). The specification can be split among multiplefiles (e.g., the content space specification files 105), which can beprocessed individually or together. As such, an overall product contentspace can be split among some number of individual architects forparallel concurrent activity, and then processed as a whole.

In exemplary embodiments, each content space specification file 105includes some number of noun spaces, defined symbols, and filters. Acontent space specification file 105 is used to define a content spacein a form that can be processed programmatically. In exemplaryembodiments, the specification file 105 is implemented to generate userstories and provide various kinds of statistics about the content space,enables content coverage metric, automated comparisons of multiplecontent spaces (e.g. cross-release), and the like. In exemplaryembodiments, the content space specification file 105 includes severalstatements, which define, among other things, a noun space, that caninclude noun, verb, interface (ifc) and platform. A content space is aset of noun spaces. As such, a basic content space specification filedefines one or more noun spaces. Descriptive names are used for thevalues on all these dimensions. In exemplary embodiments, additionalstatements can be added to the content space specification file 105. Onstatement is symbol (SYM) to simplify maintenance of the content spacespecification file 105 by reducing redundancy across noun spacedefinitions. Another statement is a filter statement that is used toclassify user stories, and to add information to output user stories. Inexemplary embodiments, each instance of statements as a group, defines asingle noun space. For example, the noun statement gives the noun spacea name, and the other verb, interface and platform statements providethe values for which each dimension is named.

As further described herein, a sym statement is a simple mechanism tocreate a short-hand for a list of values. The short-hand can then beused in defining noun spaces (e.g., in ‘noun’, ‘verb’, ‘ifc’, ‘platform’statements), in other sym statements, and in filter statements. Thisimplementation of sym statements therefore simplifies use and laterchanges to the content specification file since the list of relatedvalues can reliably changed throughout a set of specification files bychanging it in only a single place. For example, assume a content spacehas 15 noun spaces and 12 of those all use the same platform list. Thenthat list can defined once as a sym and that sym name used in the 12noun spaces. The example illustrates a group of related syms thataggregates various example platforms. The sym ‘all_email_env’ is thenused to in the definition of various noun spaces, for example in the‘draft email’ noun space.

The symbols that end in a trailing “_” (underbar) are fold syms, as isthe ‘send_’. The “_” indicates a symbol that can be folded. If therelevant type of value folding is requested (e.g. verb value to foldverb dimension, or platform value to fold platform dimension) then thesymbols marked with a trailing “_” are folded. That is, the symbolitself is used in the content space when folded. If not folded thesymbol's value list is used in the content space. When folded a symbolis shown in generated user stories with the trailing ‘_’ so thateveryone seeing the user story will know it is folded (is anabstraction).

As further described herein, filter statements are used to classify userstories into one of five categories; n/a, future, nochange, changed ornew. They also can add to a story a variety of information. A filterstatement has the general structure: filter, <expression>,<classification>, <other requests>. The filter expression is a logicalexpression (i.e., evaluates to True or False) based on the language ofthe content the content space tool 110. For example, logical operatorsare supported (i.e., =, !=, >, <, in, not in, etc.) and the variablesallowed are ‘noun’, ‘verb’, ‘ifc’, ‘platform’ and defined symbols(sym's). Other keyword-value pairs which may be included in a filterstatement include but are not limited to: 1) Owner, owner name; 2) Groupor Groupby request; 3) Priority, priority value; 3) Testid, testidvalue; and 4) Tag, list of tag values. By default, filtering is doneafter all the content space specification files 105 have been read andafter folding is performed. The content space tool 110 has an option toturn off all filtering which is useful at time to check the results ofcontent space changes.

In exemplary embodiments, the content space specification files 105 canimplement additional statements, including, but not limited to: 1)comment_off—used to end commented-out block of lines; 2) comment_on—usedto start a block of comment lines. Starts skipping; 3) createdby—used toset the field ‘Created By’; 4) csvfile—sets the name of the output .csvfile; 5) eof—logically ends file early (rest of file skipped); 6)include—name a file to be included; 7) plannedfor—used to set the RTCfield ‘Planned For’; 8) scope—used to set filter scope to file (default)or global; 9) set_filterid_in_summaryfield—true or false (default); 10)set_implicit_folding—true or false (default); 11)set_summary_prefix—Default is “User Story”; 12)set_summary_suffix—Default is category of the user story; 13)tag_exclusion_set—Define a mutually exclusive set of tags; and 14)title—title (label) of content space.

As described herein, the specification files 105 support the definitionof symbols used in the defining the values and in the filters, that is,used within the content space specification file itself. This formathelps maintain a content space specification by lessening duplication ofconstants (i.e., dimension values). This format also serves to help thespecification file be self-documenting when description names are usedfor the symbols. For example, a list of platforms used in a priorrelease might be assigned to a symbol named ‘prior_platforms’. Thissymbol is then used in the noun spaces as a short-hand for the fulllist. This symbol can also be used in the filters.

Each use case in a content space is classified using filters into basiccategories including, but not limited to: not applicable, future,regression and development. “Not applicable” are use cases judged tolikely never be relevant for the product and future are use cases not inthe n+1 release but inherent in the content space. In exemplaryembodiments, the content space is identified to clearly encompass therequirements to help ensure nothing is missed. In doing so, some usecases are likely to be generated that are not planned for the currentrelease.

In exemplary embodiments, filters are also implemented to addinformation to the generated use cases. Examples of information that canbe added are priority, tags, references to requirements document and thelike.

In exemplary embodiments, filters are also implemented to cause sets ofuse cases to be grouped into a single, broader output use case.Implementing filters in this manner can be helpful in the caseregression use cases where fine-grained management and tracking of theindividual use cases is not necessary (e.g., due to the existence ofautomated testing built during previous releases).

In generating the agile use cases, one or more content spacespecification files 105 are read by the content space tool 110. Asdescribed herein, a primary output is the user story storage medium 115.In exemplary embodiments, the user story storage medium can have a commaseparated value (.csv) file format, which is a quasi-standard widelyused by many software applications. A second type of output is theadditional storage medium 120 for various summary and report likeinformation or in progress changes.

As described herein at block 325 in FIG. 3, the systems and methodsdescribed herein map the license types to the content space. The contentspace tool 110 that process the definition of a content space supportthe addition of attributes to be associated with the generated userstories. Within the content space specification files 105, for example,filter statements may be written that map license type to content spaceelements such as specific nouns, nouns and verbs, or even sets of nouns,and the like.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example chart 400 illustrating a mapping ofcontent space values (i.e., noun, verb, interface and platform) to threelicense levels A, B, C.

As an example, a workload management software package can include threelicense levels: 1) Express Edition; 2) Standard Edition; and 3)Enterprise Edition. With the content space noun grouped into sets, fourfilter statements are implemented to correctly label all the workloadmanagement user stories, as follows:

... ; ; scope, global ; sym, edition_nouns_express, guest OS, host,Platform manager, Platform Manager VMware, virtual farm, VS,virtualization capabilities, snapshot of VS ; sym,edition_nouns_standard, candidate hosts, candidate storage, capturableservers, customizations, deploy targets, x86 image, non-VMC x86 virtualserver ; sym, edition_nouns_enterprise, Server System Pool, Server SPscalability, Network System Pool, placement plan ; filter, noun inedition_nouns_express, tag, Express filter, noun.startswith(“VA”) ornoun in edition_nouns_standard or ‘TPMfI’ in noun, tag, Standard filter,noun in edition_nouns_enterprise or noun.startswith(“workload”) or‘VirtualMultiDisk’ in noun, tag, Enterprise filter,noun.startswith(“Storage”) or ‘luster’ in noun, tag, Enterprise ... ; ;scope, global ; sym, edition_nouns_express, email, folder, attachmentsym, basic_verb, send, receive, draft ; sym, edition_nouns_standard,calendar, filter, distribution list ; sym, edition_nouns_enterprise,email, security logging, voice ; filter, noun in edition_nouns_expressand verb in basic_verb, tag, Express filter, noun inedition_nouns_standard, tag, Standard filter, noun inedition_nouns_enterprise and verb not in basic_verb, tag, Enterprise

In the example, the nouns listed (e.g. for ‘edition_nouns_standard’) arethe actual nouns used by the workload management software. The examplepresupposes a single license level per user story and that each ‘higher’level completely encompasses the ‘lower’ level. For the workloadmanagement software, the Standard Edition includes all Express Edition,and Enterprise Edition includes all Standard Edition. In exemplaryembodiments, the systems and methods described herein do not requirethat higher license levels include all features of the lower softwarelevels.

The completeness of the license mapping is verified by inspection of oneof the various forms of output (e.g., at block 330 in FIG. 3). Thesystems and methods described herein examine the output user stories forany that had a license value ‘unassigned’, and if the license value isfound, the mapping is incomplete. In another example, a rational teamconcert (RTC) query can examine all the user stories and find any withmultiple or unassigned license field. Reviews of license mapping forcorrectness is also facilitated by the spreadsheet, selecting all theuser stories for a given edition, which can alternatively be done viaRTC queries.

As further described herein at block 335 in FIG. 3, the systems andmethods described herein embed the license assignments within theassociated software product. In exemplary embodiments, the content spaceis generated with license categories mapped to user stories, and outputas a file. In one example, the output file can be in a JavaScript ObjectNotation (JSON) format. It can be appreciated that other output fileformats are also contemplated. In exemplary embodiments, a small set ofinterfaces and a class are defined to access the embedded content spaceand access license attributes for a given user story. A new jar file(for example, assuming a Java product) is shipped with the softwareproduct.

In exemplary embodiments, when embedding the content space in thesoftware product, license categories that are mapped to the contentspace can be used during development and testing.

As described herein, the systems and methods described herein alsoenable run-time authorization checking based on embedded content space.The embedded content space has interfaces that support coordinatedetermination at run time. As a user interacts with the product throughany interface (e.g., a graphical user interface (GUI), command lineinterface (CLI), representational state transfer (REST), applicationprogramming interface (API), and the like), content space coordinatesare determined and maintained. License checks are typically performed inmultiple places in the GUI so that context menus (for example) can showgrayed-out menu items as appropriate for that product install license.The license checks are supported by the embedded content spaceinterfaces.

At run-time, when an action is about to be taken, the current set ofcontent space coordinates is passed to the license checking code. Thecontent space coordinates have values for noun, verb, interface andplatform (target of function). Logically, a table look up is performedbased on coordinates for the user story license level (attribute) and iscompared to the installed license level. If user story level is “lessthan or equal” to installed level (using for example, the workloadmanagement software type license structure described herein), executionof the story is allowed to continue. If not, execution is not permittedor (in GUI example) one or more menu items will be grayed out.

The software product licensing and other content space implementationsdescribed herein can be performed in any suitable computing system asnow described.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a system 500 in whichsoftware product licensing based on a content space can be implemented.The methods described herein can be implemented in software (e.g.,firmware), hardware, or a combination thereof. In exemplary embodiments,the methods described herein are implemented in software, as anexecutable program, and is executed by a special or general-purposedigital computer, such as a personal computer, workstation,minicomputer, or mainframe computer. The system 500 therefore includesgeneral-purpose computer 501.

In exemplary embodiments, in terms of hardware architecture, as shown inFIG. 5, the computer 501 includes a processor 505, memory 510 coupled toa memory controller 515, and one or more input and/or output (I/O)devices 540, 545 (or peripherals) that are communicatively coupled via alocal input/output controller 535. The input/output controller 535 canbe, but is not limited to, one or more buses or other wired or wirelessconnections, as is known in the art. The input/output controller 535 mayhave additional elements, which are omitted for simplicity, such ascontrollers, buffers (caches), drivers, repeaters, and receivers, toenable communications. Further, the local interface may include address,control, and/or data connections to enable appropriate communicationsamong the aforementioned components.

The processor 505 is a hardware device for executing software,particularly that stored in memory 510. The processor 505 can be anycustom made or commercially available processor, a central processingunit (CPU), an auxiliary processor among several processors associatedwith the computer 501, a semiconductor based microprocessor (in the formof a microchip or chip set), a macroprocessor, or generally any devicefor executing software instructions.

The memory 510 can include any one or combination of volatile memoryelements (e.g., random access memory (RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM,etc.)) and nonvolatile memory elements (e.g., ROM, erasable programmableread only memory (EPROM), electronically erasable programmable read onlymemory (EEPROM), programmable read only memory (PROM), tape, compactdisc read only memory (CD-ROM), disk, diskette, cartridge, cassette orthe like, etc.). Moreover, the memory 510 may incorporate electronic,magnetic, optical, and/or other types of storage media. Note that thememory 510 can have a distributed architecture, where various componentsare situated remote from one another, but can be accessed by theprocessor 505.

The software in memory 510 may include one or more separate programs,each of which comprises an ordered listing of executable instructionsfor implementing logical functions. In the example of FIG. 5, thesoftware in the memory 510 includes the software product licensingmethods described herein in accordance with exemplary embodiments and asuitable operating system (OS) 511. The OS 511 essentially controls theexecution of other computer programs, such the software productlicensing systems and methods as described herein, and providesscheduling, input-output control, file and data management, memorymanagement, and communication control and related services.

The software product licensing methods described herein may be in theform of a source program, executable program (object code), script, orany other entity comprising a set of instructions to be performed. Whena source program, then the program needs to be translated via acompiler, assembler, interpreter, or the like, which may or may not beincluded within the memory 510, so as to operate properly in connectionwith the OS 511. Furthermore, the software product licensing methods canbe written as an object oriented programming language, which has classesof data and methods, or a procedure programming language, which hasroutines, subroutines, and/or functions.

In exemplary embodiments, a conventional keyboard 550 and mouse 555 canbe coupled to the input/output controller 535. Other output devices suchas the I/O devices 540, 545 may include input devices, for example butnot limited to a printer, a scanner, microphone, and the like. Finally,the I/O devices 540, 545 may further include devices that communicateboth inputs and outputs, for instance but not limited to, a networkinterface card (NIC) or modulator/demodulator (for accessing otherfiles, devices, systems, or a network), a radio frequency (RF) or othertransceiver, a telephonic interface, a bridge, a router, and the like.The system 500 can further include a display controller 525 coupled to adisplay 530. In exemplary embodiments, the system 500 can furtherinclude a network interface 560 for coupling to a network 565. Thenetwork 565 can be an IP-based network for communication between thecomputer 501 and any external server, client and the like via abroadband connection. The network 565 transmits and receives databetween the computer 501 and external systems. In exemplary embodiments,network 565 can be a managed IP network administered by a serviceprovider. The network 565 may be implemented in a wireless fashion,e.g., using wireless protocols and technologies, such as WiFi, WiMax,etc. The network 565 can also be a packet-switched network such as alocal area network, wide area network, metropolitan area network,Internet network, or other similar type of network environment. Thenetwork 565 may be a fixed wireless network, a wireless local areanetwork (LAN), a wireless wide area network (WAN) a personal areanetwork (PAN), a virtual private network (VPN), intranet or othersuitable network system and includes equipment for receiving andtransmitting signals.

If the computer 501 is a PC, workstation, intelligent device or thelike, the software in the memory 510 may further include a basic inputoutput system (BIOS) (omitted for simplicity). The BIOS is a set ofessential software routines that initialize and test hardware atstartup, start the OS 511, and support the transfer of data among thehardware devices. The BIOS is stored in ROM so that the BIOS can beexecuted when the computer 501 is activated.

When the computer 501 is in operation, the processor 505 is configuredto execute software stored within the memory 510, to communicate data toand from the memory 510, and to generally control operations of thecomputer 501 pursuant to the software. The software product licensingmethods described herein and the OS 511, in whole or in part, buttypically the latter, are read by the processor 505, perhaps bufferedwithin the processor 505, and then executed.

When the systems and methods described herein are implemented insoftware, as is shown in FIG. 5, the methods can be stored on anycomputer readable medium, such as storage 520, for use by or inconnection with any computer related system or method.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a programfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

In exemplary embodiments, where the software product licensing methodsare implemented in hardware, the software product licensing methodsdescribed herein can implemented with any or a combination of thefollowing technologies, which are each well known in the art: a discretelogic circuit(s) having logic gates for implementing logic functionsupon data signals, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)having appropriate combinational logic gates, a programmable gatearray(s) (PGA), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), etc.

Technical effects include but are not limited to: 1) generating distinctlicense boundaries for customers, for test engineers and for developmentwith a simple and localized implementation into the software product viathe content space; 2) enabling review and test of the license decisionswhere checking for completeness is automated; 3) verifying that run-timebehavior is in agreement with business decisions is made moretransparent which reduces software product defects; and 4) enablingautomation of the license assignments, automation of checking forcorrectness and automation of test case generation.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of onemore other features, integers, steps, operations, element components,and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present invention has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Theembodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and the practical application, and to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated

The flow diagrams depicted herein are just one example. There may bemany variations to this diagram or the steps (or operations) describedtherein without departing from the spirit of the invention. Forinstance, the steps may be performed in a differing order or steps maybe added, deleted or modified. All of these variations are considered apart of the claimed invention.

While the preferred embodiment to the invention had been described, itwill be understood that those skilled in the art, both now and in thefuture, may make various improvements and enhancements which fall withinthe scope of the claims which follow. These claims should be construedto maintain the proper protection for the invention first described.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for generating software license types,the system comprising: a processor configured to: collect a plurality ofsoftware product functions; create a plurality of content spacespecification files that includes the plurality of software productfunctions; process the plurality of content space specification files togenerate a plurality of software license types; define a content spacecomprising the plurality of content space specification files, whereinthe content space includes a plurality of cells, each of the pluralityof cells corresponding to one of the plurality of software licensetypes, each of the plurality of cells having multiple dimensions, eachof the multiple dimensions having one or more values; traverse thecontent space to identify the plurality of software license types; mapthe software license types to the content space; output the plurality ofsoftware license types.
 2. The system as claimed in claim 1 whereinprocessing the plurality of content space specification files comprisesidentifying content space specification statements in each of theplurality of content space specification files.
 3. The system as claimedin claim 1 wherein the multiple dimensions include a noun dimension. 4.The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein traversing the content spacecomprises for each of the noun dimensions, for each of the plurality ofcells: traversing other dimensions of the multiple dimensions of thecell, one value at a time, to generate a software license type of theplurality of software license types corresponding to the cell.
 5. Thesystem as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to group the content space.
 6. The system as claimed in claim1, wherein the processor is further configured to fold the contentspace.